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Saturday, 29 September 2012

British banking major Standard Chartered Plc appointed former SBI
chairman O P Bhatt as board member. The appointment of 61-year old
Bhatt, as an independent non-executive director, would be effective from
January 1, 2013.

“Bhatt is a career banker with over 30 years banking experience and
retired as Chairman of the State Bank Group in 2011,” StanChart said in a
statement.

State Bank Group includes SBI, India’s largest commercial bank and five associate banks.

He is among the four new independent non-executive directors appointed
by StanChart as part of efforts to enhance the experience, depth and
diversity of its board.

The three other new directors are Lars Henrik Thunell, Margaret Ewing
and Louis Chi-Yan Cheung. The appointments of Thunell and Ewing would be
effective from November 1, 2012, that of Bhatt and Cheung would be from
January 1, 2013. Bhatt had also headed the Indian Bank’s Association.

HDFC Bank on September 29 joined hands with Punjab Grains
Procurement Corporation Ltd (PUNGRAIN) to facilitate payment to its
commission agents spread over 350 mandis in Punjab.

PUNGRAIN,
in its initiative has decided to make payment to their commission
agents through ‘RuPay Debit card’ and has developed the Kisan Arhtia
(commission agents) information and Remittance Online Network (KAIRON)
with the help of National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

For
this project, HDFC Bank will install its Point of Sales (POS) machines
in over 350 mandis to facilitate the payment to commission agents
dealing in agriculture products.

It said this initiative will facilitate faster payments to them and in turn will benefit farmers.

HDFC
Bank, in order to facilitate a successful implementation of this
project, organised a day’s training session for nodal officers along
with food inspectors of PUNGRAIN.

UK-based global banking giant HSBC Holdings Plc
said N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of IT giant Infosys and the only
Indian on its board, would retire as its director at the end of 2012.
Announcing the changes in its board and board committees, HSBC Holdings
Plc said in a regulatory filing here that Renato Fassbind, former Chief
Financial Officer of Credit Suisse Group, has been appointed a Director
with effect from January 1, 2013. Besides, Fassbind would also become a
member of the Group Audit Committee and the Group Remuneration Committee
with effect from March 1, 2013. He will be an independent non-executive
Director. Murthy will retire as a Director of HSBC Holdings plc on
December 31 and will be succeeded as Chairman of the Corporate
Sustainability Committee by Laura Cha.

While Cha is
already a director, Murthy had joined the board in 2008. James
Hughes-Hallett has also been appointed a member of the Corporate
Sustainability Committee from January 1, 2013.

Fassbind was the Chief Financial Officer and a member of the executive
board of Credit Suisse Group from June 2004 until September 2010. He is
Vice-Chairman of Supervisory Board of Swiss Reinsurance Company, and a
member of the Supervisory Board of the Swiss Federal Audit Oversight
Authority.

Friday, 21 September 2012

Previously, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is prohibited in retail trading, except in single-brand product
retail trading, in which FDI, up to 100%, is permitted, under the Government route, subject to
specified conditions.

Now, The Government of India has reviewed the extant policy on FDI and decided to permit FDI,
up to 51%, under the Government route, in Multi-Brand Retail Trading, subject to specified
conditions.

Foreign technology collaboration in any form, including licensing for franchise,
trademark, brand name, management contract, is also prohibited for Lottery Business and
Gambling and Betting activities.

FDI in multi brand retail trading, in all products, will be permitted,
subject to some conditions, such as:

Minimum amount to be brought in, as FDI, by the foreign investor,
would be US $ 100 million.

Retail sales outlets may be set up only in cities with a population of
more than 10 lakh as per 2011 Census and may also cover an area of
10 kms around the municipal/urban agglomeration limits of such
cities.

Government will have the first right to procurement of agricultural
products.

The above policy is an enabling policy only and the State
GovernmentslUnion Territories would be free to take their own
decisions in regard to implementation of the policy. Therefore, retail
sales outlets may be set up in those StateslUnion Territories which
have agreed, or agree in future, to allow FDI in MBRT under this
policy.

Thursday, 20 September 2012

2.
Which Indian author has been short listed for this year's Man Booker
Prize for his novel 'Narcopolis', a dark tale about the opium and heroin
dens of Mumbai? 1) Aravind Adiga
2) Jeet Thayil 3) Amitav Ghosh 4) Chetan Bhagat 5) Rahul Bhattacharya

3.
John Baird visited India and held talks with S.M.Krishna in September
2012. Baird is the Foreign Minister of which of the following countries? 1) France
2) Argentina 3) Canada
4) U.K. 5) Australia

4. Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz was named the crown prince of which of the following countries on June 18, 2012? 1) Kuwait
2) Bahrain 3) Yemen
4) Oman 5) Saudi Arabia

5. Which of the following state-ments about G-20 is not true? 1) The G-20 includes 19 country members and the European Union. 2) G-20 was started in 2008 and accounts for 2/3rd of world's population and 80% of the world's GDP. 3) The seventh G-20 Summit was held at Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18-19, 2012. 4) The next G-20 Summit will be held in September 2013 in Saint Petersburg, South Africa. 5) At the Los Cabos Summit BRICS countries have pledged $75

6. Who took over as Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay from Ratan Kumar Sinha on June 19, 2012? 1) S.K.Jain
2) V.K.Saraswat 3) Srikumar Banerjee 4) Sekhar Basu 5) None of these

7. What is the new name of the former Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, which has been procured by India? 1) INS Vikrant
2) INS Viraat 3) INS Vikramaditya 4) INS Chakra
5) INS Arihant

9.
American President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom to Shimon Peres on June 13, 2012. Peres is the President of
which of the following countries? 1) Poland
2) Belarus 3) Israel
4) Germany 5) Slovakia

10.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) will launch how
many reactors during the 12th Plan period (2012-2017)? 1) 12
2) 16
3) 10 4) 11
5) 13

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

HDFC Bank on 5 September 2012 announced the launch of credit card for
teachers, coinciding with the celebration of Teachers Day. The card
offers special features like multiple reward points, weekend bonanza
points, petrol surcharge waiver and 500 special gift reward points to be
credited annually on the Teachers day.
With a combined market size of more than 450 million students and
growth rates of 10-15 per cent expected over the next decade, education
is one of the largest service sectors in India. In fact, it is the
largest issuer of credit cards in the country with a customer base of
5.60 million as of 31 March, 2012.

Thursday, 6 September 2012

The World Bank on 5 September, 2012 named as its chief
economist, placing a candidate from an emerging market country in a key position
at the global development lender.
Basu, who was most recently chief economic adviser to the government of India,
is the World Bank's second chief economist from a developing country. He
replaces Justin Lin, a citizen of China, whose term expired on June 1, 2012.
Basu, who holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, is on leave from
his position as a professor of economics and international studies at Cornell
University in New York. He previously founded the Centre for Development
Economics at the Delhi School of Economics.
Emerging market countries have long pushed for more clout at the
poverty-fighting World Bank and its sister institution, the International
Monetary Fund.
Starting from October, Basu will serve under new World Bank President Jim Yong
Kim, a Korean-American and who took the helm of the World Bank two months ago.

4. NAV is the price of
1) Entire fund value
2) one unit of a fund
3) surrender value
4) average value of shares
5) dividends paid in a year

5. A master policy in the case of Life insurance indicates
1) policy is sale
2) policy is in the name of servant
3) only one life is assured
4) there are several beneficiaries
5) life assured should be a male